Data description

Mass shootings

60 public mass shootings in the United States from April 2013 to March 2023. Source: The Violence Project

Definition of public mass shootings as used in the database: “a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms—not including the offender(s)—within one event, and at least some of the murders occurred in a public location or locations in close geographical proximity (e.g., a workplace, school, restaurant, or other public settings), and the murders are not attributable to any other underlying criminal activity or commonplace circumstance (armed robbery, criminal competition, insurance fraud, argument, or romantic triangle).”

n_posts = number of Reddit comments containing at least 15 words. n_authors = number of unique authors. min_date = date of earliest Reddit post used (set to 6 weeks before the event). max_date = date of latest Reddit post used (set to 6 weeks after the event).

Radius = # of people killed

Natural disasters

55 federally declared disasters in the United States from April 2013 to March 2023 that lasted 5 days or fewer. Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency

For more information on how disasters get declared, click here.

n_posts = number of Reddit comments containing at least 15 words. n_authors = number of unique authors. min_date = date of earliest Reddit post used (set to 6 weeks before the event). max_date = date of latest Reddit post used (set to 6 weeks after the event).

Radius = duration of disaster

Overview of Reddit data

LIWC averages

Raw daily averages

Baseline-corrected daily averages

Baseline is calculated from 6 to 1 weeks before the mass shooting